Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Object Tracking using Camera and Lasers

Hey folks! Here's a little something I built about a month ago, but couldn't get enough time from college to write about it. Well, it's an object tracking camera panner which tracks any object moving in close range. Unlike my previous method for object tracking, this technique will track almost any moving object, irrespective of its color, using two lasers for edge detection. Depending on which laser is focused on the object, the computer decides which direction to drive. I came up with this idea after watching a video on SoR (Society of Robots) of a sumo robot, called Stampy. Stampy uses a single IR rangefinder for edge detection. Watch the video below:

I used lasers instead of IR rangefinders. My initial plan was to use a single laser..but then it occurred to me that I would have to shake the laser left/right continuously for tracking the trailing edge of an object. So, I decided to go with two lasers instead of one. :)

Well, I guess I've finally put my computer controlled stepper motor to some use. I might be using this object tracking technique in my future projects as it's working very nicely. If you're interested in controlling stepper motors with your computer, read my new article on Coding4Fun. Enjoy! :)

thought I'd chime in, I like the work, well done. Just an idea to help conserve power, you could still only use one laser, and just use a beam spliter in order to get 2 dots. A piece of plexi-glass would suffice, unless you had an old CD/DVD drive you could salvage, some have small cubic beam splitters inside.

Hi Ashish,Pretty nifty app that you have made..I like it a lot.I am trying something similar for a project,and I actually do tyriangluation using recognition of a laser spot using a camera,I need some info from your side,Do you mind sharing?Let me know of your commentsRupin

Ur projects r awsome.Keep it up.I'm very much interested in Robotics,Obstacle sensing,motion detection etc.But i don't know where to start.Perhaps U can give me some guidelines or staarting point regarding Mechanical part as well as programming part.Im a mechanical engineer student of BUET bangladesh. My eamil add. is adelbuet@gmail.com

Very neat job on this project. I'm interested in robotics but I'm not yet oriented in the programming part. Can I have a copy of the compilation code in this project just for my study? Please send it to mayurisama@yahoo.com.ph Thanks!

hi buddy.i m rocky from gujarat.i likes ur project so much.i want to make this project.can u plz give me the discription & circuit diagrams of it? i m having to give my project after some months.plz give me all details abt it. & also tell me the place from where i can get the components of it..pls help me as fast as u can..

hi u r really geinus, i love to do projects in automation, now i am intrested in doing projects in microcontrollers, can u assist me how to begin and how can i learn microcontroler programming,how can i learn to do project in microcontroller.

i am planning to do one project on counting gas cylinders using any tech or image processing, please guide me how to do and start with.

hello sir i am a student in computer science Engg and i have to make a project on software + hardware so i found your "object tracking using camera and lasers " project but i dont have any idea about embedded systems so can u help on what shall b the requirements of the project and how to design the project?